Flint Schools Get $50,000 In Federal COVID Aid Per Student To Mostly Keep Classrooms Closed

Editor's note: This story has added information provided by the school district about when it provided in-person classes in 2021.

While Flint Community Schools will receive the most federal money in the state on a per-pupil basis to deal with the COVID pandemic, the troubled district has not kept its doors open for in-person learning.

The school district has had less than six months of classroom-based schooling since schools were shut down in March 2020, according to research done by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. In the 2020-21 school year, the district was closed until March 22.

The school district also closed schools in August 2021 because some of its buildings did not have air conditioning. The district also closed schools in what it called “an abundance of caution” after the school shooting in Oxford in November 2021. A school district spokesperson stated that Flint has had in-person classes from the beginning of August 2021 through December 2021.

The school district stated this week it is now closed to in-person learning until further notice.

Flint Community Schools will receive $156 million in federal COVID aid, or $49,996 per pupil, by far the most in the state of Michigan on a per-pupil basis. By comparison, Grand Blanc Community Schools is 11 miles from the Flint school district, and it will get $1,736 per pupil in federal COVID aid.

And Flint Community Schools has left parents in a daze with its constant updates and announcements on whether children will be taught in school or not.

For example, on Jan. 1, the district posted on Facebook that in-person classes would begin Jan. 3 and signed off with, “See you soon, Scholars!” Then on Jan. 2, the superintendent sent out a letter stating the district would be shut down completely on Jan. 3 and Jan. 4, without a remote option, before going virtual on Jan. 5-7.

However, on Jan. 6, the district announced that it would stay virtual for the next week starting on Jan. 10.

On Jan. 13, the district stated it would be virtual until Jan. 24.

And then Jan. 19, the district stated it would be virtual until further notice.